Intentional Negligence: A Contradiction in Terms?

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1 Intentional Negligence: A Contradiction in Terms? Peter Handford Abstract The area of torts dealing with the intentional and negligent infliction of personal injury is characterised by the interplay between the torts of trespass to the person, negligence, and the rule in Wilkinson v Downton. However, negligence is the dominant tort. Beginning as a cause of action restricted to indirect injuries, in 1833 it expanded into the area of direct injuries, provided that the defendant s conduct was negligent and not wilful. Negligence has now crossed this boundary; in recent years it has been extended to intentional wrongs, a development openly recognised by Australian courts. The author looks at the rise of intentional negligence, and suggests that the interrelationship of the various torts dealing with personal injury is more complex than conventionally suggested. Introduction Matthew Paul Cusack and his girlfriend Sarah May Stayt had both had a good deal to drink one Sunday night in October He abused and assaulted her, she retaliated, and then attempted to get away from him by getting into her car and driving off. After he smashed the rear window, she lost control of the car and hit a brick wall. She then drove forward with Matthew standing in the path of the vehicle, waving his arms and yelling at her. He could have got out of the way, but failed to do so, with the result that there was a minor impact between the car and his body. Matthew then taunted Sarah to run him over, saying, Come on, do it. Goaded beyond her endurance, she drove the car at him and caused him to suffer a severe injury to his shoulder. All this resulted in an action in the New South Wales District Court, in which Matthew sued Sarah for negligence. On appeal to the New South Wales Court of Appeal, 1 Heydon JA specifically found that the acts of the defendant were intentional following upon the verbal abuse, threats, assaults and taunting by the plaintiff. 2 His Honour noted that: Trespass to the person, ie battery, was not pleaded in the statement of claim. The plaintiff s opening is not recorded. The defendant s opening does not seem to be structured by reference to any consciousness that the tort of battery was being alleged, and today counsel 1 2 Winthrop Professor of Law, University of Western Australia. Cusack v Stayt (2000) 31 MVR 517. Cusack (2000) 31 MVR 517, 518.

2 30 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 for the plaintiff properly informed the Court that after enquiry he had established that the issue was not raised in the trial. 3 Heydon JA clearly accepted that on the facts a battery had taken place, 4 but said that on appeal the plaintiff ought not to be permitted to put forward a cause of action that had not been pleaded. 5 However, what is of interest for the purposes of this article is not the thwarted cause of action in battery, but the fact that all parties automatically assumed that this intentional conduct on the part of the defendant gave rise to a cause of action in negligence. The Court eventually upheld the decision of the trial judge that there was no duty of care. 6 Traditionally, negligence as a tort has been associated with conduct which is careless rather than deliberate. Orthodox definitions of the breach of duty element in negligence are couched in terms of failure to conform to the standard of the hypothetical reasonable person, 7 and many textbooks simply assume that this formulation involves carelessness rather than intention. 8 However, if inadvertently caused injury that entails unreasonable risk of harm constitutes a breach of this standard, then presumably injury inflicted deliberately or recklessly constitutes a more egregious departure from the norm set by the law. In terms of general principle, therefore, there is nothing illogical in breach of duty for the purposes of the tort of negligence extending to harm deliberately, as well as carelessly, inflicted. If this is accepted, then it can be argued that negligence should be redefined in terms of blameworthy rather then careless conduct, and indeed perhaps that the tort of negligence could do with a new name. Speculation on the role of the tort of negligence in relation to intentional wrongdoing, in Australia at least, is no longer merely an academic preserve. Though for many years judicial recognition of the existence of intentional negligence has been confined to a few minor references and veiled hints, Australian judges have now come out into the Cusack (2000) 31 MVR 517, 520. The use of an instrument (such as the car in this case), rather than direct contact between person and person, clearly constitutes a battery; another example of battery by the use of a motor vehicle (albeit in the context of a criminal prosecution for assault) is Fagan v Cmr of Metropolitan Police [1969] 1 QB 439. Cusack (2000) 31 MVR 517, 520. This cause of action was not referred to in the notice of appeal and the plaintiff had applied for an amendment so as to be able to argue it: at 520. It seems that the plaintiff intended to argue that according to Australian authority (Secretary, Department of Health and Community Services v JWB (1992) 175 CLR 218, 310 (McHugh J)) the burden of proof of consent in battery was on the defendant: at 520. This might have affected the conduct of the trial: at 520. Heydon JA, while not clearly accepting the trial judge s reliance on the lack of a relationship of proximity, was content to hold that the relationship of the parties was not one in which a duty of care was owed by analogy with cases such as Gala v Preston (1991) 172 CLR 243, where the duty was excluded because the parties were jointly participating in an illegal activity: Cusack v Stayt (2000) 31 MVR 517, See, eg, Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co (1856) 11 Ex 781, 784; 156 ER 1047, 1049 (Alderson B): Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do. See, eg, John Fleming, The Law of Torts (9 th ed, 1998) 115, 117; Rosalie Balkin and Jim Davis, Law of Torts (4 th ed, 2009) 188; John Murphy, Street on Torts (12 th ed, 2007) 23; Simon Deakin, Angus Johnston and Basil Markesinis, Markesinis and Deakin s Tort Law (6 th ed, 2008) Other texts, however, make a point of saying that the tort of negligence can involve intentional conduct: see below n 118.

3 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 31 open and recent cases contain important discussions of this principle. 9 Moreover, legislation has given the topic another dimension. The Civil Liability Acts enacted in the Australian states and territories from 2002 onwards, 10 have imposed restrictions on the rights of persons who suffer personal injury, both in relation to the scope of liability and in respect of the damages that may be awarded. While it is clear that this legislation resulted from the need to keep liability for accidents (and the resulting volume of insurance claims) within bounds, 11 it is legitimate to ask whether it has any effect on claims for intentional injury. On this point, the legislation of different jurisdictions may yield different answers. In some jurisdictions, such as New South Wales, the legislation is expressed to apply to claims for damages for harm resulting from negligence, 12 negligence being defined as failure to exercise reasonable care and skill. 13 In other jurisdictions a different formula is used, 14 and one Act simply says that it applies to claims for harm caused by the fault of a person. 15 The New South Wales Act specifically provides that it does not apply to civil liability in respect of intentional acts, 16 but most of the others do not contain an equivalent provision. Though these distinctions may simply be the result of drafting quirks, 17 on the question of whether the legislation applies to intentional harm, there is an apparent difference of potentially major significance following from the use of different terminology in what was intended to be uniform legislation See below n 140 and accompanying and following text. Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 (ACT); Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW); Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld); Civil Liability Act 1936 (SA) (formerly called the Wrongs Act 1936 (SA), title changed by the Law Reform (Ipp Recommendations) Act 2004 (SA)); Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas); Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) (amended by Wrongs and Other Acts (Law of Negligence) Act 2003 (Vic)); Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA). In the Northern Territory the reforms are much more restricted: the leading Act is the Personal Injuries (Liability and Damages) Act 2003 (NT). See David Ipp, Peter Cane, Don Sheldon and Ian Macintosh, Commonwealth Parliament, Review of the Law of Negligence: Final Report (2002). Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 (ACT) s 41(1) (applying to Chapter 4); Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5A(1) (applying to Part 1A); Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 44 (applying to Pt X). Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 (ACT) s 40; Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5; cf Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 43 ( failure to exercise reasonable care ). In Queensland the Act applies to civil claims for damages for harm: Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 4(1), but Chapter 2 deals with harm caused by breach of duty (see s 9), duty being defined as a duty of care: at Sch 2. For equivalent provisions in Tasmania, see Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas) ss 3, 9, 10. In South Australia the Act applies to liability for harm arising out of an accident : Civil Liability Act 1936 (SA) s 4(1); accident might suggest inadvertent conduct, but is defined as an incident out of which personal injury arises : at s 3. Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA) s 5A(1) (emphasis added) ( fault is not defined). See, eg, Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 3B(1)(a) ( civil liability of a person in respect of an intentional act that is done by the person with intent to cause injury or death or that is sexual assault or other sexual misconduct committed by the person ); Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas) s 3B(1)(a). The Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA) s 3A(1) is more restricted. See Joachim Dietrich, Duty of Care under the Civil Liability Acts (2005) 13 Torts Law Journal 17, See Ipp, Cane, Sheldon and Macintosh, above n 11, 35. So far, New South Wales is the only jurisdiction in which these issues have received extended consideration. It has been held that s 3B(1)(a) Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) (the provision which excludes intentional injuries from the Act: above n 16), is to be given its ordinary meaning, rather than a deliberately narrow construction: McCracken v Melbourne Storm Rugby League Football Club [2005] NSWSC 107; New South Wales v Ibbett (2005) 65 NSWLR 168; and words added to the provision in 2006 to clarify it have not changed its meaning: New South Wales v Bujdoso (2007) 69 NSWLR 302. Injury is not limited to bodily injury: Houda v New South Wales (2005) Aust Torts Reports The provision covers both personal and vicarious liability for intentional torts: Zorom Enterprises Pty Ltd v Zabow (2007) 71 NSWLR 354.

4 32 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 Having one cause of action for all fault-caused personal injury has an appearance of tidiness and logic, but in the common law the picture is complicated by the existence of separate actions for: trespass to the person, negligence (derived historically from the old action on the case), 19 and under the principle in Wilkinson v Downton. 20 There is a striking contrast with the orderly appearance of civil law systems, particularly those with a civil code. The French and German Civil Codes have a single principle covering all fault-caused harm; in France the provision covers damage of any kind and in Germany it lists various protected interests, including life and body. 21 Granted, these general principles are the product of centuries of development: the Roman law, to which the principles owe their origin, was always a law of specific delicts rather like the common law of torts, 22 and it took centuries of study by the scholars following the rediscovery of Justinian s Digest in the 12 th century to refine them into two principles, one (the action on the Lex Aquilia) covering intentional and negligent injuries to interests of substance 23 and the other (the actio injuriarum) dealing with injuries to interests of personality, 24 and then to fuse them into a Historically the law of torts can be divided into actions of trespass (eventually rationalised as involving harm caused directly) and actions on the case, sometimes called trespass on the case or simply case (harm caused indirectly). See, eg, David Ibbetson, A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations (1999) 39 56; Stroud Milsom, Historical Foundations of the Common Law (2 nd ed, 1981) ; John Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (4th ed, 2002) 59 64, For more detail see below n 30 and accompanying and following text. [1897] 2 QB 57. This principle may or may not be a species of action on the case. The text assumes that it has a continuing existence despite recent decisions. See below n 205 and accompanying and following text. Under art 1382 of the Code Civil des Français, Any act whatever of man which causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it occurred to make reparation : The French Civil Code (as amended to July 1, 1976) (John Crabb trans, 1977 ed) 253 [trans of: Code Civil des Français). Under art 823(I) of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, A person who, wilfully or negligently, unlawfully injures the life, body, freedom, health, property or other right of another contrary to law is bound to compensate him for any damage arising therefrom : The German Civil Code (as amended to January 1, 1975) (Ian Forrester, Simon Goren and Hans- Michael Ilgen trans, 1975 ed) 134 [trans of: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch]. See, eg, Alan Prichard, Leage s Roman Private Law (3 rd ed, 1964) ; Herbert Jolowicz and Barry Nicholas, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law (3 rd ed, 1972) , 272 9; Thomas Glyn Watkin, An Historical Introduction to Modern Civil Law (1999) The delicts recognised y Roman law were furtum (theft), rapina (robbery), injuria (insult and similar wrongs) and damnum injuria datum (loss wrongfully caused). The last of these originated from the Lex Aquilia of 287 BC. The primitive state of the Roman law of delicts at this time was shown by the fact that this legislation singled out the killing of slaves or cattle, and whether it extended to other property or injuries short of killing was disputed: see Herbert Jolowicz, The Original Scope of the Lex Aquilia and the Question of Damages (1922) 38 Law Quarterly Review 220; David Daube, On the Third Chapter of the Lex Aquilia (1936) 52 Law Quarterly Review 253; David Pugsley, The Origins of the Lex Aquilia (1969) 85 Law Quarterly Review 50; David Ibbetson, How the Romans did for us: Ancient Roots of the Tort of Negligence (2003) 26 University of New South Wales Law Journal 475, The Lex Aquilia was extended to cover intentional killing and wounding of free men in the time of Emperor Hadrian: see Justinian s Digest , , and later to negligent injuries: at pr. See Frederick Lawson, Negligence in the Civil Law (1950) 22. Note that culpa, the term which describes the element of wrongfulness in this delict, translates as blame ; this is directly parallel to the suggested redefinition of negligence as involving blameworthy conduct: see above n 8 and accompanying and following text. This action originally lay only for physical assaults, but was later extended to cover all acts which involved an element of insult: see Jolowicz and Nicholas, above n 22, 272 3; Robert McKerron, The Law of Delict; A treatise on the principles of liability for civil wrongs in the law of South Africa (7 th ed, 1971) 9.

5 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 33 single general principle covering all intentional and negligent injuries. 25 But even the Roman-Dutch law, which remained uncodified, rests on the foundation of the two general principles forged by medieval scholarship. 26 Compared with systems such as these, the common law with its jumble of specific principles, often of uncertain scope, seems to be lagging several centuries behind. 27 The aim of this article is to examine the various torts recognised by the common law as having a role to play in the area of intentional and negligent injury to the person and the relationships between them, and in particular to focus on the growing importance of negligence as a remedy for conduct that is intentional rather than merely careless. 28 So far as Australian law is concerned, a particular reason for carrying out such an examination is that the findings may be important for determining the reach of the Civil Liability Acts and other legislation purporting to cover some areas of tort but not others, such as legislation on contributory negligence and limitation periods. 29 The Early History of Negligence As is well known, 30 the origins of the tort of negligence lie in the recognition by the common law courts of an action on the case concerned with the careless performance of an undertaking. Perhaps the earliest case was Bukton v Townsend, 31 an action against a ferryman who agreed to carry the plaintiff s mare across the River Humber, but through his negligence in overloading the ferry caused the horse to perish. At this point in time, the common law courts already recognised the wrongs of trespass to the person, land and goods, and for these cases had developed standard writ formulae which alleged that the wrong had been committed by force and arms and against the King s peace. Such allegations were inappropriate for the Humber ferryman, and others such as farriers or surgeons, who had Ibbetson emphasises the key role of Hugo Grotius ( ), in whose De Iure Belli ac Pacis we first find a statement of a general principle of liability for loss caused by one s fault : Ibbetson, above n 19, 477 8, In France, Jean Domat ( ) was perhaps the first to formulate a single general principle of liability for fault of the kind which later found expression in art 1382 of the Code Civil des Français: Jean Domat, Loix Civiles (1702), ii, tit vii, sect IV, para 1. See Pierre Catala and John Antony Weir, Delict and Torts: A Study in Parallel (1963) 37 Tulane Law Review ; Watkin, above n 22, McKerron, above n 24, 53 57; Paul Boberg, The Law of Delict Vol 1: Aquilian Liability (1984) 18 21; Jonathan Burchell, Principles of Delict (1993) These principles are also present in the Scottish law of delict, which is based on civil law: David Walker, The Law of Delict in Scotland (2 nd ed, 1981) 17 31; William Stewart, Delict (4 th ed, 2004) Professor John Langbein, in another context (procedure), envisioned a time when England, under the influence of the European Union, would adopt civil law principles, and the remaining common law systems would simply be isolated examples of a bygone tradition, quaint Jurassic Parks of English-derived law in a civil law world: John Langbein, Trinity Hall and the Relations of European and English Law from the Fourteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries in Trinity Hall Cambridge: The Milestones Lectures: In Celebration of 650 Years of Education and Learning (2001) 84. The only article known to the writer which attempts to examine the same ground is Stanley Yeo, Comparing the fault elements of trespass, action on the case and negligence (2001) 5 Southern Cross University Law Review 142. It is intended that the scope of such legislation will form the subject of a future article. See above n 19. Older accounts include Percy Winfield, The History of Negligence in the Law of Torts (1926) 42 Law Quarterly Review 184. (1348) YB 22 Lib Ass pl 41.

6 34 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 undertaken to perform work or services, because the essence of the wrong was not the mere touching of the plaintiff or his goods, which was of course done with consent, but the fact that it was done incompetently. For a time, the need to plead the standard writ formulae in order to persuade the common law courts to take jurisdiction caused pleaders, and perhaps the courts, to indulge in legal fictions; 32 however, by about 1370 the courts had dropped the need to use the standard forms and had instead recognised a procedure under which plaintiffs could set out the special circumstances on which they relied in an action of trespass on the case. Soon enough, it was recognised that it was improper to attempt to rely on the old formulae if the case was more appropriately classified as one where the details ought to be set out in the pleadings under the newer procedure. 33 In these cases, it was alleged that the defendant had acted so negligently, improvidently and incautiously that damage to the plaintiff (or his chattels) resulted. Actions on the case for intentional harm were also recognised, but the wording was different. 34 Though in nearly all the earliest cases there was some previous relationship between the parties, 35 an important expansion took place in the 17 th century when actions on the case for negligence became recognised as appropriate in running down cases the equivalent of the road accident case of the present day and other situations in which the parties were previously strangers. 36 The most well-known case is Mitchil v Alestree 37 in 1676, where the defendant was held liable for injuries caused by an unruly horse that got out of control. He had chosen to use Lincoln s Inn Fields for the purpose of breaking and taming the horse, a place clearly unsuitable for such a purpose because of the large number of people using it. 38 Though the word negligence does not appear in the declaration, it is clearly the basis of the The most well-known example is Rattlesdene v Grunestone (1317) YB 10 Edw II (54 SS) 140, where the plaintiff pleaded that the defendants had sold him a barrel of wine, but before delivery the defendants, by force of arms, with swords bows and arrows etc, drew off much of the wine and replaced it with salt water. Ibbetson, above n 19, 44 says: It is hard not to suspect that the true basis of the claim was a shipping accident. For other examples, see Ibbetson, above n 19, See Broadmeadow v Rushenden (1363) 103 SS 422, case 40.1, cited by Ibbetson, above n 19, 54. As Ibbetson notes, in Waldon v Mareschal (1369) YB M.43 Edw III f 33 pl 38, it was held improper to include an allegation of breach of the King s peace in an action against a doctor who killed a horse through negligent treatment, and [b]y 1375 the Broadmeadow form of writ, which came to be known as trespass on the case, was the appropriate one to be used by plaintiffs who wanted to get the details of their story into the pleadings : Ibbetson, above n 19, 55. In Bird v Holbrook (1828) 4 Bing 628; 130 ER 911, the allegation was that the defendant had placed a spring gun in his garden and wrongfully, wilfully and negligently allowed it to remain without giving notice. On actions on the case for intentional harm, see below n 182 and accompanying and following text. There were some other instances, for example liability for the escape of fire, eg Beaulieu v Finglam (1401) YB 2 Hen IV f 18, where the liability was based on a custom of the realm. For other instances see Baker, above n 19, See Michael Prichard, Scott v Shepherd (1773) and the Emergence of the Tort of Negligence (Lecture delivered at the Selden Society, Lincoln s Inn, London, 4 July 1973). (1762) 1 Vent 295; 86 ER 190. Another report of the case discloses that there was a coach and two horses, and that the coach was under the control of a coachman, the defendant not being present: see Michael v Alestree (1793) 2 Lev 172; 83 ER 504. As later cases made clear (see below n 50 and accompanying text), issues of vicarious liability had to be litigated in case, and the decision here was that the master was liable, though not present, because he had ordered his servant to perform the task in question. See also Michell v Allestry (1685) 3 Keb 650; 84 ER 932.

7 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 35 case. Over the next 150 years, as such actions began to multiply, 39 the courts began to rationalise the distinction between actions on the case and the older actions of trespass in terms of a division between direct and indirect harm. By the 1830s, it had become clear that negligence could not be confined to cases of indirect harm, and that it was necessary to allow an action on the case for negligence to be brought in at least some cases in which the harm was caused directly. Michael Prichard has drawn attention to the crucial role played in this story by the rule forbidding joinder of causes of action. 40 A plaintiff uncertain whether trespass or case was the appropriate remedy could not simply allege both: he had to make a choice. Once the courts began to take a firm stance on bringing the right form of action, plaintiffs were in an impossible position: time after time litigants failed because they had chosen one alternative, only for the court to rule, that in the light of the evidence as proved before the court, they should have chosen the other. 41 However, it was quite some time before the distinction in this hard-line form became firmly embedded. Two cases mark important stages in this process. Reynolds v Clarke, 42 where the plaintiff sued in trespass for damage to the walls of his house caused by a water spout fixed by the defendant, was one of the first cases where the court rejected the suit on the ground that the action should have been case. Fortescue J held that trespass lay for immediate wrongs, and case for those which caused harm consequentially, citing his famous example of a man who throws a log into the highway: if it hits a person in the highway, trespass is the appropriate action, but if someone tumbles over the log as it lies there, he must bring an action on the case. 43 However, this was not the verdict of the whole Court. Lord Raymond CJ, at any rate as reported by Strange, 44 said that trespass lay only if the act was in the first instance unlawful. 45 Reynolds J agreed with Fortescue J, while Powys J agreed with the Chief Justice. Fifty years later, in Scott v Shepherd, 46 Blackstone J delivered the authoritative judgment which finally confirmed that in trespass the wrong had to be directly inflicted, Baker, above n 19, 412, gives some figures for the numbers of vehicles at this time and suggests that the increase in litigation was due to: improvements in roads; the fact that the entrepreneurs who were responsible for these improvements had enough capital to make them worth suing; and the controversy about whether trespass or case was the correct from of action. Michael Prichard, Trespass, Case and the Rule in Williams v Holland [1964] Cambridge Law Journal 234. In some cases it was possible to submit to a nonsuit and subsequently bring the alternative cause of action, eg Tripe v Potter (1767), noted in Savignac v Roome (1794) 6 TR 125; 101 ER 470. (1795) 1 Str 634; 93 ER 747. Reynolds v Clarke (1795) 1 Str 634, 636; 93 ER 747, 748. Strange notes that the distinction by which the lawfulness or otherwise of the original act was made the criterion of the distinction between trespass and case, is not to be found in Lord Raymond s own report of the case, Reynolds v Clarke (1790) 2 Ld Raym 1399; 92 ER 410. For other reports of the case see Reynolds v Clerk (1725) 8 Mod 272; 88 ER 193 and Reynolds v Clark (1748) Fort 212; 92 ER 822. Reynolds v Clarke (1795) 1 Str 634, 635; 93 ER 747, 748. (1746) 2 Bl R 892; 96 ER 525 (B).

8 36 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 whereas in case the harm had to be consequential. 47 However, his was a dissenting judgment, and again the Court was evenly split as to the rule to be applied. Scott v Shepherd is the well-known case in which a joker threw a firework into the crowded market at Bridgwater, and it exploded in the plaintiff s eye after two others had thrown it away in acts of self-protection. The question for the Court was whether the plaintiff had been correct in framing his claim in trespass. The majority was clearly of the view that the plaintiff s claim ought to succeed. Nares and Gould JJ were prepared to hold that the unlawfulness of the act justified the use of trespass. While De Grey CJ agreed with Blackstone J that the division turned on whether the harm was direct or consequential, rather than on unlawfulness, his Honour managed to find some evidence of directness on the facts. 48 Even Blackstone J did not endorse the directness-indirectness distinction in its most hard-line form, which would require turning away a plaintiff who had brought the wrong action. His Honour said: Every action of trespass with a per quoad includes an action on the case. I may bring trespass for the immediate injury, and subjoin a per quod for the consequential damages; or may bring case for the consequential damages, and pass over the immediate injury But if I bring trespass for an immediate injury, and prove at most only a consequential damage, judgment must be for the defendant. 49 After Scott v Shepherd, many plaintiffs in running-down actions were turned away because they had sued in trespass when they should have brought case, or vice versa. Apart from the possibility that a plaintiff who sued in trespass might be undone by evidence which showed that the accident resulted from a loss of control, and was therefore consequential, if it came out in the evidence that the defendant s servant was driving, and not the defendant in person, trespass was incorrect because case was the appropriate cause of action for questions of vicarious liability unless it was clear that the master was present and playing an active part. 50 The controversy reached its height during the time when Lord Kenyon was Chief Justice of the King s Bench ( ): in case after case he held that there was a clear distinction between trespass and case according to whether the harm was immediate or consequential, and that the plaintiffs had brought the wrong action. 51 When Lord Kenyon Cases prior to Scott v Shepherd included Haward v Bankes (1760) 2 Burr 1113; 97 ER 740, where the defendant argued unsuccessfully that the harm was immediate and so the action should have been trespass, not case; and Harker v Birkbeck (1764) 3 Burr 1556; 97 ER 978, where the immediate-consequential distinction was referred to in argument, but not in Lord Mansfield CJ s judgment; but he held nonetheless that the plaintiff had brought the wrong action. For a different view, see Slater v Baker (1799) 2 Wils KB 359, 362; 95 ER 860, 862 (Wilmott CJ): The Court will not look with eagle s eyes to see whether the evidence applies exactly or not to the case, when they can see the plaintiff has obtained a verdict for such damages as he deserves, they will establish such verdict if it be possible. Scott v Shepherd (1746) 2 Bl R 892, 899; 96 ER 525 (B), Scott (1746) 2 Bl R 892, 897; 96 ER 525 (B), 528. For a similar dispute over the proper form of action in the United States, see Guille v Swan (1822) 19 John Ch 381, cited by Richard Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts (8 th ed, 2004) 96 (defendant s balloon landed in plaintiff s garden causing damage to his potatoes and radishes). M Manus v Crickett (1800) 1 East 106; 102 ER 43, referring to Michael v Alestree (1793) 2 Lev 172; 83 ER 504 (above n 38). See also Seymour v Greenwood (1861) 7 Hurl & N 355; 158 ER 511. Sheldrick v Abery (1793) 1 Esp 55; 170 ER 278; Day v Edwards (1794) 5 TR 648; 101 ER 361; Savignac v Roome (1794) 6 TR 125; 101 ER 470; M Manus v Crickett (1800) 1 East 106; 102 ER 43; note also Lord

9 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 37 died in 1802, Lord Ellenborough, who succeeded him, affirmed a similar view in Leame v Bray, 52 but in the light of suggestions by the Court of Common Pleas that the rule might need to be reconsidered, 53 Lord Ellenborough began to have doubts, and by 1812 he was suggesting that there might be a possibility of waiving the trespass along lines suggested by Blackstone J in Scott v Shepherd. 54 After the death of Lord Ellenborough in 1818, uncertainty increased. In Moreton v Hardern 55 in 1825, Holroyd J in the Court of King s Bench affirmed the waiver view, 56 while Bayley J attempted to explain Lord Ellenborough s judgment in Leame v Bray in a kinder light; 57 but two years earlier a dissenting judge in the Court of Exchequer, in one of its few forays into this area, maintained the hard-line view. 58 By the time of Williams v Holland 59 in 1833, it was clear that something had to be done, and it was the Court of Common Pleas which took the initiative. The plaintiff brought an action on the case, alleging that the defendant so carelessly, unskilfully and improperly drove his gig that it struck the plaintiff s cart with great violence, damaging the cart and injuring the plaintiff s son. Serjeant Bompas for the defendant, argued in favour of the hardline rule, insisting that the effect of the authorities was that where the act complained of was immediate, whether it was wilful or negligent, the remedy was by trespass only. 60 Serjeant Jones for the plaintiff, urged the view that although where the act was immediate and wilful the remedy was trespass only, where the act was immediate but occasioned by negligence or carelessness the remedy was either trespass or case. 61 Though there were some subtle differences between the rationalisation propounded by Serjeant Jones and the views expressed in some of the authorities on which he relied, such as the waiver view supported by Blackstone J in Scott v Shepherd, it was Serjeant Jones argument which finally won the day and provided a solution to the controversy. Tindal CJ, after an examination of the authorities, said that Moreton v Hardern decided that where the injury was caused by negligence, then even if it was immediate, the plaintiff could make the negligence of the defendant the ground of his action, and declare in case. His Honour concluded: Kenyon s reference to the immediate-consequential distinction in Ogle v Barnes (1799) 8 TR 188; 101 ER (1803) 3 East 593; 102 ER 724. See Rogers v Imbleton (1806) 2 Bos & P NR 117; 127 ER 569; Huggett v Montgomery (1807) 2 Bos & PNR 446; 127 ER 702. Hall v Pickard (1812) 3 Camp 187; 170 ER See also: Covell v Laming (1808) 1 Camp 497; 170 ER 1034, where it was argued that there were doubts about Leame v Bray, but Lord Ellenborough affirmed it; and Lotan v Cross (1810) 2 Camp 464; 170 ER 1219, where Lord Ellenborough said that if Leame v Bray were to be reconsidered, he would not do so on a motion for a new trial, but would wait for a case where the question was raised on the record. (1825) 4 B & C 223; 107 ER Moreton v Hardern (1825) 4 B & C 223, 228; 107 ER 1042, Moreton (1825) 4 B & C 223, 226; 107 ER 1042, Lloyd v Needham (1823) 11 Price 608, ; 147 ER 579, 580 (Graham B). The other judges, though they say little, appear not to endorse the hard-line view. The plaintiff in argument referred to the waiver view. (1833) 10 Bing 112; 131 ER 848. Williams v Holland (1833) 10 Bing 112, 114; 131 ER 848, Williams (1833) 10 Bing 112, 114; 131 ER 848,

10 38 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 We think the case has laid down a plain and intelligible rule, that where the injury is occasioned by the carelessness and negligence of the Defendant, the Plaintiff is at liberty to bring an action on the case, notwithstanding the act is immediate, so long as it is not a wilful act; and, upon the authority of that case, we think the present form of action maintainable to recover damages for the injury. 62 There is no more important landmark in negligence law than Williams v Holland, not even Donoghue v Stevenson. 63 The action on the case for negligence would henceforth be available whether the harm was directly or indirectly occasioned. Negligence had escaped the confines of the forms of action and had become a generalised principle of liability, unconstrained by limitations about how the harm was caused. 64 Though references to a tort of negligence prior to this case are rare, 65 Williams v Holland signals that negligence of itself is a recognised cause of action. As Tindal CJ himself said, such carelessness and negligence is, strictly and properly in itself, the subject of an action on the case, 66 and authority for such a principle could be found in the title in Sir John Comyns Digest of the Laws of England: Action upon the Case for Negligence 67 probably the first judicial reference to the first treatise to identify negligence as a standalone principle. 68 However, one important limitation identified by Tindal CJ should be carefully noted. The plaintiff was now permitted to bring an action on the case for negligence, whether immediate or consequential, so long as it was not a wilful act. 69 The clear intention was that in the area of wilful and immediate harm, trespass should remain the sole remedy. We will Williams (1833) 10 Bing 112, 117; 131 ER 848, 850. [1932] AC 562. Milsom, above n 19, 398 9, suggests that negligence, because of its more modern development, is a different kind of tort from the old traditional torts. Cf Fleming, above n 8, 102, who suggests that negligence is a basis of liability rather than a single nominate tort. One of the first examples is Govett v Radnidge, Pulman and Gimblett (1802) 3 East 62, 64; 102 ER 520, 520 1, where the declaration was in terms of negligence and the argument mentions it as being laid in tort. See also Ansell v Waterhouse (1817) 6 M & S 385, 390; 105 ER 1286, (Bayley J); Bretherton v Wood (1821) 3 Brod & Bing 54, 62 3; 129 ER 1203, 1206 (Dallas CJ). Cf Smith v London & South Western Railway (1870) LR 6 CP 14, 14: This was an action for negligence ; Heaven v Pender (1883) 11 QBD 503, 506 (Brett MR): The action is in form and substance an action for negligence. Williams v Holland (1833) 10 Bing 112, 115; 131 ER 848, 849. Sir John Comyns, Digest of the Laws of England (1762) vol 1, 223 8; note also Francis Buller, Introduction to the Law of Trials at Nisi Prius (1767) 35. See Ibbetson, above n 19, ; Baker, above n 19, It is noteworthy that only four years after Williams v Holland, in Vaughan v Menlove (1837) 3 Bing NC 468; 132 ER 490, we have the first formulation of the standard of care in negligence in terms of the reasonable man; note also Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co (1856) 11 Ex 781, 784; 156 ER 1047, 1049 (Alderson B) (see above n 7). At round about the same time, the courts begin to identify the need for a duty of care, culminating in the first attempt to state a general principle of duty by Brett MR in Heaven v Pender (1883) 11 QBD 503, 509. The earliest statements of a remoteness rule can be found in Pollock CB s judgments in Rigby v Hewitt (1850) 5 Ex 240; 155 ER 103 and Greenland v Chaplin (1850) 5 Ex 243; 155 ER 104. On the 19 th century development of negligence see generally, Ibbetson, above n 19, Note Sharrod v London & North Western Railway Co (1849) 4 Ex 580, 585; 154 ER 1345, 1347 (Parke B), stressing this limitation. The plaintiff s sheep strayed onto a railway line and were run over by the defendant s locomotive. The plaintiff sued in trespass, but it was held that the proper cause of action was case. Under Williams v Holland, the question whether the damage was direct or otherwise would not have been an issue. The case is of interest in that it appears to be the first case which raises the question whether the principles established in relation to road accidents also apply to railway accidents. The first railway was the Stockton- Darlington railway, opened in 1825.

11 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 39 see how, by the end of the 20 th century, long after the abolition of the forms of action, some courts came to disregard this limitation. But first, it is necessary to say something about the tort of trespass and the territory it occupies in the field of intentional and negligent harm to the person. The Role of Trespass to the Person The three torts of trespass to the person assault, battery and false imprisonment had been recognised by the common law courts since the early 13 th century. 70 Until the 19 th century, it was not clear whether there was any requirement that the defendant should act intentionally or negligently, and the views of scholars have differed. 71 David Ibbetson, for example, says that the primary focus was on the loss suffered by the plaintiff rather than the wrong done by the defendant, and that it is hard to avoid the conclusion that liability was prima facie strict. 72 Others, such as Stroud Milsom, 73 argue that leading cases such as the Case of Thorns 74 and Weaver v Ward, 75 which appear to suggest strict liability, in fact turn on errors of pleading. 76 However, the 19 th century cases of Holmes v Mather 77 and Stanley v Powell 78 confirmed that there had to be either intention or negligence. 79 Any suggestion that this may have been a special rule confined to highway cases 80 was quashed by the decision in Stanley v Powell, which involved a shooting accident on private land See Stroud Milsom, Trespass from Henry III to Edward III (1958) 74 Law Quarterly Review 195, 407 and 561, For example, Oliver Wendell Holmes opined that from the earliest times the basis of tort liability was fault, whereas Morten J Horwitz maintained that the original standard was strict liability: see Robert Kaczorowski, Common Law Background of Nineteenth-century Tort Law (1990) 51 Ohio State Law Journal Ibbetson, above n 19, 58. See also Morris Arnold, Accident, Mistake and Rules of Liability in the Fourteenthcentury Law of Torts (1979) 128 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 361. Milsom, above n 19, 296 7, See also Baker, above n 19, Hulle v Orynge (The Case of Thorns) (1466) YB M.6 Edw IV f 7 pl 18. (1792) Hob 134; 80 ER 284. In Weaver v Ward (1792) Hob 134; 80 ER 284, the parties were soldiers practising with their muskets and the defendant pleaded that he had accidentally, by misadventure and involuntarily shot the plaintiff: the court found in the plaintiff s favour, saying that no man shall be excused of a trespass except it may be judged utterly without his fault, but added that the defendant s plea should have stated facts negativing negligence or showing how the act was involuntary. See McHale v Watson (1964) 111 CLR 384, 388 (Windeyer J). (1875) LR 10 Ex 261. [1891] 1 QB 86. In the United States, the courts had arrived at this position some years earlier, in Brown v Kendall, 60 Mass 292 (1850): see George White, Tort Law in America: An Intellectual History (1980) For later cases in England see Gayler & Pope Ltd v B Davies & Son Ltd [1924] 2 KB 75; National Coal Board v JE Evans & Co (Cardiff) Ltd [1951] 2 KB 861 (confirming that the same rule applies to trespass to goods); League against Cruel Sports v Scott [1986] QB 240 (in the hunting context, at least, intention or negligence is required in the tort of trespass to land). For confirmation in Australia see Chin v Venning (1975) 49 ALJR 378, 379 (Gibbs J); see also, more generally, Northern Territory v Mengel (1995) 185 CLR 307, (Mason CJ, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron and McHugh JJ), confirming that liability should be confined to intention or negligence. As suggested by some reports of Holmes v Mather, such as (1875) 33 LT 361, where Bramwell B s statement as reported in (1875) LR 10 Ex 261, ( trespass is the proper remedy (if there is any remedy) where the act is wrongful, either as being wilful or as being the result of negligence. Where the act is not wrongful for either of these reasons, no action is maintainable ) is preceded by the words in cases such as the present : see Philip Landon, Pollock s Law of Torts (15 th ed, 1951)

12 40 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 The judicial legislation effected by Williams v Holland had created a choice of remedy in cases where harm was negligently but directly inflicted, 81 but trespass came into its own where the defendant s act was intentional, rather than negligent, because Tindal CJ had specifically excluded wilful acts from case s newly extended function. 82 Further, because trespass was actionable per se, it had a role to play in upholding the right of the plaintiff not to be touched without consent in cases where no damage resulted a role which trespass continues to play at the present day. 83 Trespass had another advantage, even where the defendant s act was negligent rather than intentional: whereas in negligence the burden of proof of negligence lay with the plaintiff, in trespass the traditional authorities maintained that the burden was on the defendant to disprove negligence. 84 In England, Diplock J, in Fowler v Lanning, 85 attempted to rewrite history and align the position in trespass with negligence by holding that even in trespass the burden of proof of the mental element lay upon the plaintiff; New Zealand appears to have followed this lead, 86 but Australian 87 and Canadian 88 authorities have generally adhered to the traditional view. In any consideration of the respective roles of trespass and negligence in the area of intentional and negligent injury to the person, the judgment of Lord Denning MR in Letang v Cooper 89 is of the utmost importance. In this case the English Court of Appeal was asked to consider whether a plaintiff who had delayed for more than three years before bringing an action for negligent personal injury could invoke the alternative cause of action for trespass to the person which, it was argued, was governed by a six-year limitation period. The Court of Appeal held that trespass to the person also fell within the three-year limitation period, which according to the statute governed actions for negligence, nuisance and breach of duty resulting in personal injury. 90 But Lord Denning MR opposed the plaintiff s claim on a more fundamental ground. His Honour said: Joinder of counts in trespass and negligence was permitted after the procedural reforms brought about by the Common Law Procedure Act 1952 (UK). Early examples of joining causes of action in trespass and negligence include Holmes v Mather (1875) LR 10 Ex 261; Gayler & Pope Ltd v B Davies & Son Ltd [1924] 2 KB 75. See above n 62 and accompanying text. For example, in contexts such as medical treatment without consent, contact in sport, and affirmation of civil liberties. Note also the use of battery as a private right of action in respect of sexual abuse: see Bruce Feldthusen, The Canadian Experiment with the Civil Action for Sexual Battery in Nicholas Mullany (ed), Torts in the Nineties (1997) 274. Holmes v Mather (1875) LR 10 Ex 261; National Coal Board v JE Evans & Co (Cardiff) Ltd [1951] 2 KB 861. [1959] 1 QB 426. Beals v Hayward [1960] NZLR 131. McHale v Watson (1964) 111 CLR 384 (earlier authorities relied on by Windeyer J included Blacker v Waters (1928) 28 SR (NSW) 406 and Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 474); Venning v Chin (1974) 10 SASR 299; Shaw v Hackshaw [1983] 2 VR 65, (McInerney J); contra Kruber v Grzesiak [1963] VR 621, 623 (Adam J); Shaw v Hackshaw [1983] 2 VR 65, (Gobbo J); Hackshaw v Shaw (1984) 155 CLR 614, 619 (Gibbs CJ); Platt v Nutt (1988) 12 NSWLR 231, 240 (Kirby P, dissenting). Cook v Lewis [1951] SCR 830; Tillander v Gosselin (1966) 60 DLR (2d) 18, aff d (1967) 61 DLR (2d) 192; Ellison v Rogers (1967) 67 DLR (2d) 21; Dahlberg v Naydiuk (1969) 10 DLR (3d) 319; contra Walmsley v Humenick [1954] 2 DLR 232. [1965] 1 QB 232. Law Reform (Limitation of Actions etc) Act 1954 (UK) s 2(1). See now Limitation Act 1980 (UK) s 11. The House of Lords subsequently took a different view in Stubbings v Webb [1993] AC 498, but in the recent

13 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 41 The truth is that the distinction between trespass and case is obsolete. We have a different subdivision altogether. Instead of dividing actions for personal injuries into trespass (direct damage) or case (consequential damage), we divide the causes of action now according as [sic] the defendant did the injury intentionally or unintentionally. If one man intentionally applies force directly to another, the plaintiff has a cause of action in assault and battery, or, if you so please to describe it, in trespass to the person. If he does not inflict injury intentionally, but only unintentionally, the plaintiff has no cause of action today in trespass. His only cause of action is in negligence, and then only on proof of want of reasonable care. 91 Danckwerts LJ agreed, 92 and Diplock LJ s position was not too different: he said that there was only one cause of action, which could be described either as negligence or as trespass to the person, though negligence was to be preferred. 93 This now appears to be the generally accepted view in England. 94 Other jurisdictions have been more hesitant. The accepted position in Australia and Canada is that it is still possible to bring an action for negligent trespass to the person as an alternative to an action in negligence, where the harm is negligently but directly inflicted. 95 But the implications of Lord Denning s dictum should be carefully considered. He did say that for unintentional injuries the only cause of action was negligence. What he did not, in terms, say was that for intentional injuries the only cause of action was trespass. However, if Tindal CJ s limitation of the scope of Williams v Holland 96 to cases where the injury was not wilful is still operative, it would appear that Lord Denning has created a clear division whereby, in English law at any rate, intentional injuries to the person are redressed by an action in trespass and negligent injuries attract the tort of negligence, with no overlap. It is the object of the next part of this article to show that this division has not been observed and may not even be a rational division to make. The imperial expansion of the law of negligence has not ceased. 97 Having occupied the area of negligent direct harm, it has now marched into the area of intentional personal injury decision in A v Hoare [2008] 1 AC 844 it overruled its own decision and restored the view taken in Letang v Cooper [1965] 1 QB 232. Letang v Cooper [1965] 1 QB 232, 239. Compare the older view, as stated by Lord Ellenborough in Leame v Bray (1803) 3 East 593; 102 ER 724, that wilfulness was not necessary to constitute a trespass: until Lord Denning s intervention, this foreclosed any possible view that trespass was limited to intention. Letang v Cooper [1965] 1 QB 232, 242. Letang [1965] 1 QB 232, Note Mullin v Richards [1998] 1 WLR 1304, a case where two 15-year old schoolgirls were having a mock fight with rulers, and one injured the other in the eye: there was presumably no claim in trespass because there was no intentional injury. In Devlin v Roche [2002] 2 IR 360, the Irish Supreme Court refused to commit itself on whether actions for unintentional trespass were permissible in Ireland. In Kruber v Grzesiak [1963] VR 621, where the plaintiff wanted to sue in trespass to the person rather than negligence because the limitation period in negligence had expired, there was no suggestion that an action for negligent trespass was unavailable. In Gray v Motor Accidents Commission (1998) 196 CLR 1, 9, Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ said that there was no need to revisit the debate on whether trespass could be committed negligently. (1833) 10 Bing 112, 117; 131 ER 848, 850 (see above n 62 and accompanying text). This phrase was coined by Brennan J in Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd (1994) 179 CLR 520, 570.

14 42 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 Negligence and Intentional Harm Some Early General Statements Until fairly recently, there was very little express judicial recognition of the possibility that negligence could be used as a remedy for intentional harm. However, some prominent cases contain a few statements of a very general nature perhaps all products of an era in which it was easier to generalise about the tort of negligence than it is today. It seems appropriate to begin with Donoghue v Stevenson, 98 Lord Atkin s famous attempt to provide a general definition of duty in terms of the neighbour principle is introduced by the words: The liability for negligence, whether you style it as such or treat it as in other systems as a species of culpa. 99 This represents a deliberate attempt to relate the common law to the general principles of liability in the codified systems of civil law, and the mental element at the heart of the Roman law delict of wrongfully causing loss. Culpa, or blame, incorporates both intention and negligence. Some years earlier, Lord Atkin, before his elevation to the House of Lords, produced another statement in very general terms drawing intention and negligence together. In Hambrook v Stokes Bros, 100 his Honour said: if the plaintiff can prove that injury was the direct result of a wrongful act or omission by the defendant, the defendant can recover, whether the wrong is a malicious and wilful act, is a negligent act, or is merely a failure to keep a dangerous thing in control. 101 The reference to malicious and wilful acts probably owed something to his Honour s discussion of the Wilkinson v Downton principle 102 as part of a summary of the case law on nervous shock. A third prominent case containing a statement of this kind in very general terms is Bunyan v Jordan, 103 where the plaintiff sued for neurasthenia allegedly caused by the defendant making various wild statements to the effect that he intended to kill himself, and firing a gun in her hearing. The causes of action alleged included negligence and Wilkinson v Downton. Davidson J, in the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, referred to Lord Atkin s speech in Donoghue v Stevenson and endorsed a general principle on the nature of an actionable breach of duty covering both wilful and negligent acts and clearly based on Atkin LJ s dictum in Hambrook v Stokes Bros. 104 When the case was [1932] AC 562. Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, 580. [1925] 1 KB 141. Hambrook v Stokes Bros [1925] 1 KB 141, 156. Wilkinson v Downton [1897] 2 QB 57: Wright J held that an act calculated to cause and actually causing physical harm was actionable. (1936) 36 SR (NSW) 350. Bunyan v Jordan (1936) 36 SR (NSW) 350,

15 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 43 appealed to the High Court, 105 the judges in the main confined themselves to discussion of Wilkinson v Downton. 106 Statements in such general terms are rare, and it may be that it takes an exceptional judge of the calibre of Lord Atkin to go to the heart of the matter and set out generalisations that are so appealing in their simplicity. 107 Until very recent times discussions of the relationship between intention and negligence have generally been found in academic writings, rather than in the law reports. Discussion of the Relationship between Intention and Negligence in Legal Writing From the early years of the 20 th century, there have been a few exceptional texts which have been prepared to generalise on the application of negligence principles to wilful conduct. The oldest is probably Beven on Negligence, which in its fourth edition in 1928, posed the question can negligence in law be wilful?, saying: Negligence is the absence of care according to the circumstances whether in doing or not doing; and in law the most deliberate act which either goes beyond, does not attain to, or deflects from the rules of duty may be treated as a negligent wrong. 108 A number of judicial dicta are cited to support this proposition. 109 However, the most influential textbook discussion is John Charlesworth s The Law of Negligence, which in its second edition in 1947, stated: Negligence may consist in a wilful or an intentional act. This is because negligence as the breach of a duty to take care is concerned with conduct and not with intention. It is no defence to prove that the defendant intentionally inflicted the damage in question and did not cause it by mere carelessness. If the driver of a heavy lorry deliberately runs into a bicycle and destroys it he can be sued for negligence, just as if he had destroyed it by careless driving. If a trench is made in the highway with a red lamp to give warning of its presence and A, seeing X approaching and intending to cause him to fall into the trench, removes the red lamp and X does fall into the trench, A is liable in negligence, his intention instead of being a defence being a matter which facilitates proof of negligence. 110 This passage, with only minor changes, has appeared in every edition since Bunyan (1937) 57 CLR 1. Negligence is discussed only by Latham CJ and (very briefly) by McTiernan J. However, note a more recent example by Lord Bridge of Harwich in R v Deputy Governor of Parkhurst Prison ex parte Hague [1992] 1 AC 58, 166, suggesting that the custodian of a prison who negligently allowed, or deliberately caused, a detainee to suffer injury to health would be in breach of a duty of care. William Byrne and Andrew Gibb, Beven on Negligence: Negligence in Law by Thomas Beven (4th ed, 1928) 32. See, eg, Dixon v Muckleston (1872) LR 8 Ch App 155, 160 (Lord Selborne); Ratcliffe v Barnard (1871) LR 6 Ch App 652, 654 (James LJ). John Charlesworth, The Law of Negligence (2nd ed, 1947) 9. The first edition in 1938 contains the same passage except for the initial sentence. See, eg, CT Walton, Roger Cooper and Simon Wood, Charlesworth & Percy on Negligence (11 th ed, 2006) [1-25].

16 44 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 A note of controversy was injected into this question in 1965 when MA Millner, in an article in Current Legal Problems, suggested that trespass was obsolescent and that the defendant is liable in negligence for intentional breach of the duty of care or intentional infliction of unlawful injury. 112 Seemingly in response to statements such as this, RWM Dias, the editor of the negligence chapter in Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, issued a reasoned denial: some mention should be made of a recent tendency to use negligence in the general sense of fault and as such applicable to intentional as well as to unintentional wrongdoing. So procrustean a use as this can only mislead and should be resisted. It appears to derive mainly from the objective approach of the law of torts, namely, its concern with unreasonable conduct. But negligence and intentional wrongdoing are only two different forms of unreasonable conduct; this does not make them equivalent to each other even in torts. 113 Dias pointed to a tendency in practice for a plaintiff to sue in negligence where he has to prove unreasonable conduct, rather than under one of the intentional torts, where establishing an intentional state of mind would be much more difficult, commenting: difficulties of proof do not render the concepts identical. This passage continued to appear in the next few editions but disappeared when a new editor took over. 114 More recently, an English text has provoked a note of disagreement by Australian authors. In 1976, Glanville Williams and Bob Hepple, in an introductory text for students entitled Foundations of the Law of Tort, said that in modern law a claim for damages for an injury which has been intentionally caused may be framed in negligence since it is no defence to say that the act was intentional. 115 In one passage in their Australian torts text, Francis Trindade, Peter Cane and Mark Lunney agree, 116 but in a later passage the authors suggest that the position is not as clear as Williams and Hepple imply, and that it is still uncertain whether an action for negligence can be brought for a direct intentional act Maurice Millner, The Retreat of Trespass (1965) 18 Current Legal Problems 20, 30, a statement repeated in Maurice Millner, Negligence in Modern Law (1967) 208. Note also the statement in Robert Heuston, Salmond on the Law of Torts (14 th ed, 1965) 267 that the action of negligence lies not only for careless but also for intentional conduct. The statement, which does not appear in earlier editions, apparently owes its presence in the book to Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd v Shatwell [1965] AC 656. Heuston commented: The habit of using negligence to describe a deliberate act is well-established, but inaccurate : at 267, n 5. Arthur Armitage (ed), Clerk & Lindsell on Torts (13 th ed, 1969) The present author, a member of Dias Cambridge postgraduate LLB class in , remembers Dias informing the class that he had recalled the proofs of the 13 th edition to deal with this problem. The passage last appeared in Arthur Armitage (ed), Clerk & Lindsell on Torts (16 th ed, 1989) Glanville Williams and Bob Hepple, Foundations of the Law of Tort (1976) 44. See Francis Trindade, Peter Cane and Mark Lunney, The Law of Torts in Australia (4 th ed, 2007) 14, n 56. Ibid 31 32, referring to Gray v Barr [1971] 2 QB 554, 569 (Lord Denning MR) and Williams v Humphrey (Unreported, Talbot J) The Times, 13 February The same passage appeared in earlier editions. The authors maintain this position in the 4 th ed despite Wilson v Horne (1999) 8 Tas R 363 (see below n 140 and accompanying and following text), which is not cited.

17 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 45 It is now more common for torts texts to comment briefly on the possibility of using negligence as a remedy for an intentional wrong. 118 However, the really important development of recent years is that this practice has now been openly endorsed by the courts. Before this could happen, the courts had to overcome the problem presented by an important High Court dictum in Williams v Milotin. 119 The Problem of Williams v Milotin Williams v Milotin was one of the leading cases in which the High Court confirmed that an action in negligent trespass was still available as an alternative to an action in negligence. Ettore Milotin, an infant suing by his next friend, claimed damages for personal injury sustained when he was knocked off his bicycle by the defendant s truck. The action was commenced more than three years after the accident. The defendant argued that it should have been brought in trespass, which under s 36 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1936 (SA) was subject to a three-year limitation period. The plaintiff contended that under s 35 of the Act the action was one which would formerly have been brought in the form of actions called trespass on the case which shall, save as otherwise provided in this Act, be commenced within six years next after the cause of such action accrued but not after. The High Court, in a judgment concurred in by all five judges, confirmed that the action was properly brought in negligence and that the six-year limitation period applied, with the result that the claim had been brought in time. 120 It held that the words save as otherwise provided in this Act referred to provisions extending the limitation period in cases of absence from the State, disability and so on, not to the shorter limitation period for trespass actions in s 36 of the Act. 121 The starting point of the defendant s argument was that the plaintiff s action could properly have been framed as an action for trespass to the person: this being so, the plaintiff should have sued in trespass, or at any rate the shorter limitation period for trespass actions should have been applicable. The High Court accepted that the action could have been brought in trespass, but confirmed that by virtue of Williams v Holland and other cases discussed above, negligence was an available alternative where the damage was direct; where it was indirect, in former times the action would have had to be brought as an action on the case and so negligence was the only available alternative. 122 The plaintiff had a choice of causes of action: The two causes of action are not the same now, and they never See, eg, Peter Cane, Atiyah s Accidents, Compensation and the Law (7 th ed, 2006) 35; David Howarth, Textbook on Tort (1995) 36; Bob Hepple, David Howarth and Martin Matthews, Tort Cases and Materials (5 th ed, 2000) 850; Michael Jones, Textbook on Torts (8 th ed, 2002) 9; Mark Lunney and Ken Oliphant, Tort Law: Text and Materials (3 rd ed, 2008) 51; Horton Rogers, Winfield & Jolowicz on the Law of Tort (17 th ed, 2006) 74 5; Harold Luntz, David Hambly, Kylie Burns, Joachim Dietrich and Neil Foster, Torts Cases and Commentary (6 th ed, 2009) [ ]. (1957) 97 CLR 465. Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 474. Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 472. Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 470.

18 46 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 were. 123 Given this, he was perfectly within his rights in choosing the one which had the longer limitation period. In introducing this discussion, the High Court made a statement about what the position would be if there had been an intentional striking a dictum that has caused problems in later cases. In referring to the word formerly as used in the statute interpreted to mean before the Judicature Act reforms were introduced in South Australia in 1878 the Court said: At that time the present action might have been framed as an action of trespass. For it seems that the facts which the plaintiff, by his next friend, intends to allege are that he was immediately or directly hit by the motor car driven by the defendant as a result of the negligence of the defendant himself. There is no suggestion that the defendant intended to strike him. If that had been the allegation, the action could have been brought in trespass and not otherwise. But as only the negligence of the defendant is relied upon, while the cause of action might have been laid as trespass to the person, the action might also have been brought as an action on the case. 124 This dictum seems perfectly consistent with Williams v Holland, and in particular with Tindal CJ s ruling that an action on the case could lie for direct harm so long as it is not a wilful act. 125 But in a more modern age the High Court s dictum came to be viewed as an inconvenient limitation on the potential scope of liability for negligence. 126 Though it was not discussed by the High Court, there had been an earlier case in South Australia, Hillier v Leitch, 127 where the facts were very similar to Williams v Milotin. The defendant argued that since the plaintiff s claim involved a negligent but direct injury, the cause of action should have been trespass, and the three-year limitation period for trespass actions under s 37 of the Limitation of Suits and Actions Act (SA) should have applied. Cleland J held that the only form of action which could be called trespass on the case was one where damages were claimed for injury to the person or property not coming within other previously recognised forms of action: only in such circumstances could the six-year period set out in s 36 of the Act apply. It seems likely that this case caused the South Australian Parliament to pass the Limitation of Actions Act 1936 (SA). While this Act did little more than re-enact the 19th century legislation, some subtle word changes undermined the view taken by the Court in Hillier v Leitch. 128 The problem was revisited in New South Wales in Elliott v Barnes, 129 where the defendant relied on Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 474. Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 470. Williams v Holland (1833) 10 Bing 112, 117; 131 ER 848, 850 (see above n 62 and accompanying text). See below: n 138 and n 142 and accompanying and following text. [1936] SASR 490. See Parsons v Partridge (1992) 111 ALR 257, 259 (Morling CJ); note also Williams v Milotin (1957) 97 CLR 465, 473: When the law was consolidated by the Limitation of Actions Act 1936 it is unlikely that there was any intention to take the step of limiting a plaintiff who could have sued in effect for negligence or in trespass to the shorter period of limitation. (1951) 51 SR (NSW) 179.

19 2010] INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE 47 Hillier v Leitch for the proposition that in a case of negligent but direct injury the plaintiff could only sue in trespass, an argument that according to Street CJ required a certain amount of hardihood, 130 despite the old-fashioned pleading system still in force in New South Wales at the time of this case. Street CJ rejected the argument, saying: I do not think, however, that this authority is sufficient to overbear the vast mass of authority to the contrary and also the long-established practice and course of procedure which the Courts have followed, 131 and supported this by reference to Bullen and Leake on pleading, 132 Moreton v Hardern, 133 Williams v Holland 134 and other cases. The rest of the Court agreed, but both Street CJ 135 and Maxwell J 136 repeated the proposition that where the act was wilful, a plaintiff was confined to a remedy in trespass. Six years after this case, the High Court in Williams v Milotin confirmed that in a non-wilful case, negligence remained an alternative to trespass but as we have seen, echoed the reservations about the position in relation to wilful injuries. 137 It was a first instance judge in New South Wales who showed the way forward. In Carroll v Folpp, 138 the plaintiff was struck by the defendant s car, thrown onto the bonnet of the car and carried along for about 70 metres before he fell off, sustaining further injury. There was animosity between the parties because the defendant had commenced a relationship with the plaintiff s ex-partner. At the time of the injury, the plaintiff was involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-partner and was threatening to hit her with a pinch-bar. The plaintiff tried to stop the defendant s car, but the defendant swerved towards the plaintiff and accelerated. Dunford J held that even though the plaintiff was engaged in the unlawful act of assault, there was still a relationship of proximity between the parties, and that the defendant was liable in negligence, though he reduced the damages on the ground of the plaintiff s contributory negligence. However, the defendant had argued that if (as was found) the defendant had acted deliberately, under Williams v Milotin the plaintiff s cause of action was trespass and not case. Dunford J distinguished the case, saying: that case involved a question under the relevant Limitation of Actions Act 1936 (SA), where different limitation periods were specified for actions in trespass and in actions on the case, and the plaintiff was out of time in respect of the former but not the latter; and the Court held that the plaintiff was entitled to sue in negligence with its longer limitation period, notwithstanding that he might also be entitled to sue in trespass. It was not concerned Elliott v Barnes (1951) 51 SR (NSW) 179, 180. Elliott (1951) 51 SR (NSW) 179, 180. Edward Bullen and Stephen Leake, Precedents of Pleadings (3 rd ed, 1868) 369. (1825) 4 B & C 223; 107 ER 1042 (see above n 55 and accompanying text). (1833) 10 Bing 112; 131 ER 848 (see above n 59 and accompanying and following text). Elliott (1951) 51 SR (NSW) 179, 182. Elliott (1951) 51 SR (NSW) 179, 182. Note also Cousins v Wilson [1994] 1 NZLR 463, where there is a suggestion that the intentional felling of trees without authority was remediable only by means of the tort of trespass to land, although the reasons for not allowing a negligence claim turn on the inconsistency between such a claim and the clearly defined duties and liabilities arising from unlawful entry on land reasoning closely related to the High Court of Australia s current concern with coherence in the law as a factor regulating the recognition of duties of care in negligence in cases such as Sullivan v Moody (2001) 207 CLR 562. (Unreported, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Dunford J, 10 February 1998).

20 48 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW [VOL 32:29 with whether a defendant who has failed to take reasonable care for the safety of another can escape liability in negligence by showing that his actions were intentional; and I know of no case where it has been held to be a good defence. Dunford J said that in Elliott v Barnes, where again there was a limitation issue, there was no question of a deliberate act. Charlesworth on Negligence was invoked to support the proposition that a wilful or intentional act may constitute negligence. 139 The Leading Cases Over the last ten years, Australian courts have come out into the open, and a series of important cases have acknowledged that negligence has a role to play in cases where injuries were intentionally inflicted. The work of textbook authors and the judicial developments discussed above formed part of the foundation for this major expansion. In many ways the most important, and certainly the most dramatic, illustration of the new role of negligence is Wilson v Horne. 140 The plaintiff sued in 1996 in respect of acts of sexual abuse by her uncle between 1973 (when she was five years old) and The plaintiff had repressed the memories of these experiences, but in 1994 she was encouraged to go to counselling by her sister (who said that her uncle had also abused her), as a result of which her memory of the events returned and she began to suffer symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. The endorsement on the writ alleged negligence, assault, battery and breach of fiduciary duty, but the statement of claim confined the claim to negligence doubtless because of the likelihood that the limitation period for the trespass claims had expired, and the difficulty in Australian law of establishing a fiduciary duty in such circumstances. At first instance, the defendant made a submission of no case to answer, 141 arguing that according to the High Court in Williams v Milotin 142 where there was a direct and intentional act the only cause of action was trespass. However, Underwood J, in a ruling which opened the way to the recognition of negligence as a cause of action for intentional harm, held that this statement only described the position prior to the Judicature Acts, and had no continuing effect after the abolition of the forms of action and the other procedural reforms of the 19 th century: The statement in Williams v Milotin relied upon by senior counsel for the defendant does not support the submission of no case to answer. That statement is authority for the proposition that prior to the introduction of the Judicature System a direct and intentional application of force only gave rise to an action for trespass. However, nothing in that judgment purports to declare that that remains the law today. In negligence, a duty of care is owed to those within the requisite proximity not to expose them to the risk of injury or harm See above n 110 and accompanying and following text. Dunford J referred to the 9 th ed: Rodney Percy (ed), Charlesworth & Percy on Negligence (9 th ed, 1997) [1-21]. (1999) 8 Tas R 363. Horne v Wilson [1998] TASSC 17. (1957) 97 CLR 465, 470 (see above, n 119 and accompanying and following text).

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